Apple Business Manager - Adding Serial Numbers

[Kedgar]

Good day,

I have been out of the loop for a while when it comes to Apple management. I'm trying to grok Apple Business Manager... I had a discussion with a former associate who said that you can upload your older machine serial numbers via CSV to ABM in order to add them. From my testing, this does not seem to be the case. Upon import, I recieve the following error "INVALID INPUT"

Can someone please set me straight on this... can I or can I not retroactively add devices to ABM that were not originally purchased with DEP/ABM?

Thanks,
Ken

[SCADtom · Accepted solution]

iOS devices not purchased under DEP can be added using Configurator 2. Back in October I heard that Apple was working on a similar solution for Macs but don't think that has been implemented yet.
Any Apple device that was purchased from an approved DEP reseller can be added in, but that reseller has to complete the process.

[fdeltesta]

@SCADtom So does it mean that Macs that were bought without DEP are not able to be added at all ?

[fridomac]

Yes, the only way to get machines bought without DEP into DEP is:
- if they were bought from an approved DEP reseller AND
- if said reseller will retroactively add them to your DEP account (some do, might have to pay a fee, though)

Bye, Frido.

[T_Armstrong]

The whole point of DEP (as frustrating as it can be) is that unless ownership can be validated, it can't be added.

There's a logic to it, but frustrating unless you've been enrolled/buying via DEP the entire time.

[summoner2100]

@T.Armstrong That statement would make complete sense about ownership, except for the fact that you can add iOS devices into it with Configurator which doesn't require confirming ownership. Sure if you have the device less than 30 days after it's added you can remove it from ABMASM from the device. But the principle is still the same, *shrug.. I hope they do get a way to add Macs. It would make doing my labs easier.

[Tribruin]

I had Apple explain why they allow iPads to be added via AC2 and it has to do with the Educational market. It is very common for schools to get donations of equipment from PTOs or Civic groups. Since the iPads were not purchased by the school, they could not be added to DEP. This caused a lot of problems for schools as that made the iPads lower class citizens than the ones who were properly registered. So Apple gave them a workaround.